Dispensing liquids in quantities from picoliters to microliters is an essential operation in many areas of pharmaceutical and biology research, as well as in medical and veterinary diagnostics, forensics testing, and agricultural testing. Even within these fields, low-volume liquid dispensing is used for many different operations.
One stage of pharmaceutical research, during which low-volume liquid dispensing is important, is directed to determining the concentration of a compound needed to effectively attack or inhibit a target (e.g., a virus). These are generally called dose-response experiments. Many different concentrations of the compound are created in containers, such as wells of a well plate, to determine the effective concentration. Dispensing systems direct liquids into the wells.
Use of the same reference numbers in different figures indicates similar or identical elements.